Author: Kevin Gralen

ShopTab recently formalized a partnership with PayPal to bring the power of their payments platform to their clients with their new PayPal Facebook Shop. With the goal of providing a comprehensive commerce solution for Facebook store retailers throughout the world, the PayPal Payments platform using the PayPal Express Checkout application program interface (API) was a logical choice given their broad international coverage and support of PayPal and credit card payments in over 190 countries.

This partnership will provide unique opportunities for feature enhancements for clients that want a dedicated store within their Facebook page. Highlights of the recently announced PayPal Facebook Store feature set highlights a functional cart, inventory tracking, product variation support, shipping options, tax support and a simplified set-up process. Additionally, this option provides support for 24 currencies and application localization options in over 70 countries.

New retailers can start selling inside of Facebook within minutes. Specific PayPal language support has been deployed for English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Turkish, Thai, Russian and Chinese along with full application translation options. ShopTab provides both videoand FAQ implementation support for these new features.

Let’s talk about your social media strategy for just a little bit! At ShopTab, we are firm believers that social media is not only an extension of your marketing plan, but an essential element to drive quality traffic that can produce revenue. By placing yourself and your business on social outlets you are opening yourself up to a new audience that you may not reach via paid online and offline marketing options. Most importantly, this audience is opting into hearing from you and your company.

Social media provides you an opportunity that paid search, e-mail and other online methods are lacking, the opportunity to get to know your customer base. When you focus on the correct outlets for your brand you are building a community that ultimately could translate into revenue. Whether you have an existing website, or you’re trying to get your business up and running through social outlets alone, engaging in social is a MUST.

Daytona International Speedway saw early on that they needed to be where their fans where, and that happened to be on social platforms. They engaged in a social media strategy that focused on fan engagement and rewards. Using a Facebook store application also played into their marketing plans as well, allowing their fans access to their products and tickets while giving them the ability to share their passion about their purchases with their friends.

The emerging concept of social commerce is turning into a more acceptable outlet for shopping since people are using their friends and family to aid them in making shopping decisions. So why not allow them to have conversations around your products or services? Or even better, start the discussion about how a product is used or ask for options they would like to see. That’s what social does for you. It places your brand at top of mind for existing and potential new customers. According to Internet Retailer’s research, they have discovered that “the value of each social traffic transaction is higher than that of e-mail and search traffic.” This validates that these conversations can turn into quality revenue opportunities.

Now we aren’t saying to abandon other aspects of marketing such as paid search, e-mail, etc… We are encouraging you to make social media a part of your marketing plan. An easy extension to add on to your social media plan is opening aFacebook shop, allowing you to easily share your products and services. This type of application creates an opportunity for your conversation starter. As in all things with your business, you will need to create a strategy for your social media plan and periodically measure your progress; this is the only way to determine if you are benefiting from the effort you are putting in.

Ultimately it is up to you to decide what is best for your business, but don’t miss out on this fantastic engagement opportunity to create a deeper relationship with your client base that can result in steady revenue streams.

ShopTab recently updated our Facebook Store application to support a fully integrated cart option with PayPal’s Express Checkout software. This update includes enhancements for client purchase options, inventory management and shipping options. Merchants looking for a full turn-key Facebook Store will be impressed by the increase in functionality while using the simplicity of the PayPal platform to appeal to the hundreds of millions of existing PayPal users.

The ability to move from the popular “Buy Now” buttons to the “Add to Cart” feature will be a big boost to driving purchases of multiple products. This basket functionality supports all PayPal currencies (29 currently) and a large list of languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and many others. We’ll be adding many new languages over the coming few weeks. This system will accept PayPal payments as well as major credit cards that are appropriate in the store owner’s country of origin.

(Checkout Example)

The ability to control inventory levels within your store is a desired by many clients. ShopTab offers the ability to communicate your inventory levels and to manage what products appear in your store application based upon what is in stock. The inventory settings feature provides for designation of stock levels by product variations such as colors, sizes or combinations of factors for each product.

(Example of stock showing in Facebook Store listing)

PayPal offers domestic and international configuration shipping options within each client’s profile based upon their home country. ShopTab leverages these options to provide a fixed shipping cost per item or to use a weight-based option. The retailer can determine which option makes the most sense for them on a product by product basis. If the shipping charges aren’t applied in ShopTab’s product listing the checkout system will default to the existing PayPal shipping configuration.

(ShopTab configuration option)

Existing clients that used the Buy Now buttons have been migrated to the cart functionality. Details on suggested recommendations have been provided to optimize the store.

Last month we released a new capability we are proud to announce that is perfect for your Valentine’s Day marketing efforts – mobile sales pages in Facebook! We heard your concerns on the lack of Facebook’s smart phone support for third-party apps, especially for your Facebook storefront. We’ve answered your concerns with our first phase of mobile store support via optimized mobile product sales pages. With this capability your Facebook fans and customers can now make a purchase via their mobile device!

The essential element to optimize your fan page storefront in your fan’s mobile app is by sharing your products in your Facebook Timeline. These posts show up directly in your fan’s news feed. Research shows that the news feed is the dominant way that your fans interact with your brand. These links create a direct connection to optimized mobile webpage that will help you to sell your product.

To amp up for Valentine’s Day immediately start sharing your products on your Timeline. It is just as easy as 1,2,3.

1) Select which products or services you want to share on your Facebook Timeline. Since Valentine’s Day is next week we suggest picking items that relate to the holiday or are ideal products for this romantic holiday.

2) Once you’ve determined which items are best you will want to visit your Facebook shop. Click on the “Get Advice from Friends” button for the product you want to share. This is ShopTab’s version of a Facebook “Share.”

3) Click on the “Get Advice from Friends” button to activate the share screen. This is where you can post any text you would like your customers to see. For example, “Valentine’s Day is right around the corner be Cupid and get this sweetheart of a deal today!” Then hit post and you have now successfully posted your item to your Facebook timeline.

With over 1 billion Facebook users and half of all Facebook logins via mobile devices, it is time to get your mobile game plan together. Also, this is just our first phase of enhancing our mobile support for your store. Click here for more information on ShopTab’s mobile direction.

With the recent emergence of the social consumer, expectations for engagement around products and services across social media have increased. Research shows that active social users are looking for brands that connect with them emotionally. Turning this emotional connection into a buying experience is a very unique challenge for most retailers. Moontoast’s co-founder Marcus Whitney, puts it best when he describes it as “social activation,” a process that engages the consumer on social networks through the entire purchase process.

The two psychology principles of exclusivity and scarcity are important elements to leverage when connecting social fans with your brand. It’s one thing to talk about “social activation” but when our clients embrace the tenants of social activation to a level that demonstrate best practice examples for all social marketers it is really exciting! Recently, Giro, an Easton-Bell Sports brand, worked with ShopTab to create an application to support their dedicated social marketing program that highlights the impact of this approach.

We were fortunate enough to speak with Stacey Peterson, Digital Commerce and Content Manager, at Easton-Bell Sports, about their strategy for developing this marketing program, application, and their overall experience with their fans.

What are your goals for social media as it relates to your overall marketing?

Through social media we can connect, engage and interact with our consumers in a real-time manner as well as involve our fans.

Recently you worked with ShopTab to create a custom application, what were you trying to accomplish with this app?

We chose ShopTab because we were looking to integrate a storefront on Facebookto link up with PayPal, which would allow us to extend our First Friday 50 marketing promotion to our fans. We came to ShopTab with an idea on how we wanted to tell the story of our limited edition products and they were extremely helpful in creating a great user experience.

The First Friday 50 program provides Giro fans a chance to buy limited-edition products directly from Giro. The items will be available on the First Friday of each month, with 50 pieces of each exclusive design available through the Giro Sport Design’s fanpage on Facebook with a first-come, first-served basis. By connecting with PayPal for payments, we were able to open the store up to our International fans.

This fan-based deal store was launched in early January, how did it go? Did it meet your expectations?

Yes, ShopTab was extremely helpful in accommodating our needs, our desire to allow our fans to share socially. We were also able to gain likes, and emails address to best reach out to our newly added fans from the appeal of being able to purchase something truly unique. Even more interesting, we sold out of our first 50 pieces in 26 hours, which was a fantastic outcome.

Did you learn anything that surprised you with the launch?

The biggest addition to our original requirements was the integration of PayPal and inventory management. Since this program centers on the fact that there are only 50 pieces, over selling our inventory was not an option.

What did you find worked best for the promotion of the fan-based deal store?

What worked best was promoting the program through social and email channels and by properly telling the story of the exclusivity of the program and products.

Do you have any other comments about working with ShopTab to deliver this application?

ShopTab has been incredibly accommodating in helping create a custom storefront that would meet our requirement and objectives.

A few days ago we talked about creating a daily deal store with ShopTab’s Facebook store application. What if I told you that you would be able to work with some of the new features that were created from our work with the team at Easton-Bell Sports? Soon you will be able to do just that! We’re working to turn a number of these features (inventory control, countdown clock, multiple images, unique single product page and others) into a product option called SharedDealTM that can be activated within ShopTab’s Ultimate Plan. Look for a future blog post on how you can take advantage of this opportunity.

The year 2012 saw the rise of the social consumer, the well-informed shopper who uses social media to guarantee they find the best product and deal. The social consumer is savvy, knowledgeable, and many times looking for deals. In fact, last year 50% of consumers stated that using social media for deals was their main goal. So what does this mean for you as business owner or marketing leader? It means that offering a form of a daily deal or social media exclusive discounts is likely a good tactic to leverage in 2013.

Now, we’re not talking about something as complex as a Groupon type offering. We’re suggesting a daily deal or weekly deal offering that brings your consumers back often. It serves two key social purposes:

1) It lets your fans and their friends know you are paying attention to their needs since it is clear at times they are looking for special deals or unique offerings.

2) It keeps them engaged with your page on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If they know that you are offering discounts or exclusivity for their undivided attention, they are more likely to become a loyal fan and promoter.

How can you create a daily deal look and feel in your Facebook shop right now? It’s as simple as creating a new category in your ShopTab admin and determining which products you would like to offer a deal on.

Step 1: Determine which product or products you would like to create a discount offer on. It could be anywhere from 25% off to free shipping. According to Social Commerce Today, 34% of social consumers love to see their brands offer free shipping for products.

Step 2: Login to your ShopTab admin to update the category for your product(s) that you want to be a daily deal. Then go to your Store Design section to make sure you have selected the Daily Deal category (or whatever you decide to call your offering) to be the default category for your shoppers. This means that when user click on your Facebook store icon it will take them straight to the Daily Deal page.

Step 3: The final and most important step of this whole process is POST the productson your Facebook page. Build social marketing around your discounted items to get your fans talking and shopping.

If that seems like something that involves too much work for your storefront you can always create something as simple as a fan gate that let’s your consumers know when they enter the Facebook store they are browsing through already discounted items.

JCBling does a great job with their social marketing and fan gate to inform their shoppers that they are being rewarded for being a Facebook fan.

In the words of Brian Solis “If you don’t continually invest in the awareness of your value or experience you cannot benefit from consideration.” For you as a business owner, in a nutshell, it means to try new engagement techniques. If you’re not trying something new to get their attention then you won’t be seen. So get started on your daily deal store, or exclusivity marketing today!

Making sure your Facebook business/fan page is optimized for your brand and to represent your products and services, if you have a Facebook Store, is always essential throughout the year. With the start of a new year comes a chance to develop a fresh start for your social engagement strategies.

Below are our top four ideas for a fresh Facebook page.

1) One of the most important elements to your Facebook business/fan page and Facebook store is branding with your images. The prime real estate on the Facebook page is the cover photo, the profile image, the Facebook app tabs, and your Facebook Shopbanner image.

- The key take away for this part of your fan page is to make sure you have imagery that reflects your brand to the best of its ability

- Put the images in the right size for each image with this quick guide from Jon Loomer.

2) There is a little section below your profile image that is labeled the “about” section. Sometimes this space is abandoned and over looked by many Facebook users. Not anymore, the about section is now going to play a more important part in your Facebook marketing then ever before. With the announcement of a new and improved Facebook search being released, the “about” section will aid in your “searchability” for fans and customers alike.

- To optimize your about section to perform at peak performance be sure to read the following blog by State of Search.

- For more information on Facebook’s new search release and what it means for your marketing Jon Loomer sums it up best.

3) Now that you have the upfront branding on your Facebook page taken care of don’t forget to carry it throughout your timeline layout. We’re talking about the information that you post and share to your fans.

- Add milestones to your timeline! Let your fans know when your business started and any major events that have occurred. People engage with imagery so be sure to find great images to match with your milestones.

4) Remember to bring the New Year cleaning to your Facebook Shop as well.

- Update your store banner with new imagery for the New Year. Also make sure you have it sized for max optimization and clarity. We recommend 810 X 110 for the best look.

- If our default tab icon doesn’t fit your branding, change it! You can place your own tab icon on your timeline. You can change the name of the tab too.

- Lastly, go through your products. Maybe re-think the amount of products you have on that page, or update your categories to bring new products to the front of the store.

Now that we’ve given you our take on cleaning house for your best Facebook store, move on to developing the depth of your online conversations and don’t forget to sprinkle in discussion and promotion about your products!

Another year has come and gone. Did your social marketing and Facebook Shop achieve their goals this year? If not, have you taken the time to look back over your social commerce plan to review what may and may not have worked the best to drive impact for your brand, products and services? During the review process think of the various ways you can make 2013 the best year for new revenue yet! To help with your brainstorming session, we have gone back through our 2012 blog archive to select the top 5 blogs that will boost your Facebook business/fan page for your Facebook store.

1) The Power of a Facebook Share: A Facebook share is one of the most powerful selling tools you have. Make sure you utilize these shares often in 2013.

2) Cash Selling on Facebook: Are your products hand-made or sold in cash based economies? Consider using our COD selling option for your social store. We have clients driving new sales daily using this unique online selling tool.

Start off the New Year and use these proven posts to develop your goals and strategies. Also, be sure to take a look at our social commerce strategy guide to help you get started in the right direction for your overall strategy document.

Do you have a favorite idea, tactic or trick that worked for your Social Marketing in 2012 that you want to share?

Do you have a niche market with an engaged audience and large fan base? If so, have you ever thought about becoming an affiliate marketer? Successful affiliate marketing relies on creating partners (you!) that have an audience that is ready and willing to purchase their products. That audience is typically developed through a blog, website and now social media outlets such as Facebook. This is where you come in.

Let’s say you have a Facebook fan page dedicated to your passion around baseball or your favorite baseball team. You have a large Facebook audience with over 2,000 fans. They are continually engaging with your posts and often times start discussions of their own. If you favorite team is the Boston Red Sox why wouldn’t your fans want to buy products about their favorite team right from your Facebook page?

So how do you go about finding an affiliate marketer that has products to match your niche market? There are several websites, such as Commission Junction or Doba, that allow you to search for specific products to sell and match you with the right affiliate(s). You can also search in Google for specific keywords to match you with companies that affiliate market, such as MLB product affiliates.

Now that you have found potential affiliates to partner with you can think about the marketing that will focus on their products. If your large fan base is engaged on your Facebook page then using a Facebook store is a logical step. You already have the key element in place to open a successful storefront – your audience of fans. For more information on opening an affiliate Facebook shop be sure to read last week’s blog post.

Once you have the store placed on your page, consider using standard Facebook posts to highlight your products. Additionally, you can use Facebook’s promoted poststo extend the reach of your posts to a larger portion of your fan base. According to eMarketer six in ten Facebook users alerted their friends to new products. That translates into 60% of your fan base promoting your affiliate products!

To get started in affiliate marketing begin with your search to find the right affiliate products to sell and promote. Then lay out a marketing plan designed for your audience. For more technical details on how ShopTab works for affiliates read our FAQ on affiliate marketing.

As an affiliate marketer have you ever thought that you need to be utilizing social media channels but just don’t know how? Being an affiliate you know that your success depends on the size of the audience you can reach with the products or services you’re promoting. What better way to reach new customer then through the use of Facebook. Facebook’s audience is currently over one billion and growing. That means that there is a whole new world of new customers just waiting to “like,” “share,” and promote your products.

So how do you place your affiliate products in the Facebook platform? Simple, you implement a Facebook shop for your business/fan page. Once you get that working, it is time to think about adding this option for your existing publishers/partners and recruiting others based upon their social audience.

Why a Facebook storefront with ShopTab?

What makes us different from other Facebook store application providers is our platform was built to direct traffic back to an existing eCommerce website. The same site you’ve optimized to drive successful conversions. Through various client interviews and case studies, we have learned that our application not only can boost your traffic from your social sites, but it can also aid in Facebook page engagement.

Since we were built to redirect traffic during the purchase and checkout process that means our back end is built for hyperlinks for each product. For an affiliate marketer that means you can provide these hyperlinks with unique tracking code for each one of your products in your Facebook storefront and in your partner’s storefront. This should work within your current structure for how you sell and report to your network.

We also have made it easy for you to upload a large quantity of items with a simple data feed. Typically it is .csv file but we can also accept .xml, and Google Product feed. This feed can be modified for all of your partners to reflect their individual tracking information.For more technical details on our data feed files you can read more in our support document.

How do I make my storefront successful?

A crucial element to the success for your affiliate marketing in Facebook or any location all comes down to your marketing plan. You have to have a plan in order to measure your success and determine your goals. If you need help getting your social marketing plan off the ground then look no further then our social commerce document. This provides the blueprint for social selling success.

Get started with your own Facebook store and demonstrate success to your network for how social selling can be an incremental driver for their success. Once you have your store in order, it will be time to engage your partners to educate them on the ease of setting up a store on their Facebook page and how they can create more selling opportunities selling your products and services.

If you think that ShopTab is the right fit for your affiliate marketing needs then give us a try, it’s a 7-day free trial. If you have more questions about how we can help you with your affiliate marketing contact us at support@shoptab.net. We’d be happy to answer any of your questions.

Next week’s blog we will explore using your Facebook Store as a publisher for your affiliate marketing relationship.